When I still worked for a broadcasting agency I regularly walked to the – as wel called them – the graphic boys and girls. They were always helpful, very knowledgeable, but also very busy and unfortunately I wasn’t always their top priority. But making an infographic can be easy peasy, so everyone can do it. These are our favorite tools to do so.

There are more than enough reasons to make an infographic. You can visualize complex data in an easy way. That’s proven to be more effective to hold the attention of your audience. Neomam Studios found eleven other advantages why infographics come in handy and they made a list with all thirteen reasons – of course in an infographic.

Infogr.am

Infogr.am lets you start with a basic template wherefrom you can easily add graphics, maps, interaction and media. Euronews uses this tool a lot, as you can see in this example. Infogr.am is free to use. The paid version gives you more options, themes, icons and sharing options.

Venngage

This tool looks a lot like Infogr.am. The advantage of Venngage is the huge amount of icons in the database and the possibility to add different kinds of media. With the paid version off Venngage you have access to even more icons and you can download your infographic. With the free version you can only embed it.

Piktochart

This tool is for the more experienced user. Check here what Forbes made with this tool. It’s a combination of Infogr.am and Venngage. Just like Venngage it has an enormous database with icons. However with Piktochart you can add interactivity like showing numbers when you hover over the graphic. The paid version also has the possibility to download your infographic in a higher resolution.

LocalFocus

Data journalists love spreadsheets. Most tools don’t allow you to upload an entire sheet. LocalFocus does. In a few easy steps your data set turns into a graphic and publishable story. The Dutch Jelle Kamsma noticed the lack of expertise in data journalism in media companies. He tried to resolve it with this tool. Dutch media like NOS, De Correspondent and NRC are already using this tool. That results in high subscription prices, starting from 120 euros a month. Students can try this tool for a year without any costs.

These tools are selected by DigitalStory.Tools, a handpicked list with over 85 of the best tools in 17 categories, to help journalists by making their digital stories. DigitalStory.Tools is part of Hackastory, a community with journalists, coders and designers.